@realnotantispamaddress: "Not having needed to be up-to-date with this for some time now (yay) I'm
out of touch with what's all the rage in this department.
I've been asked to recommend something for someone who has been using a
spreadsheet to do his accounts.
What would you suggest nowadays?
Daniele"
    @steve: "<quote>
Wel, I'd suggest MYOB which seems perfectly OK to me. OTOH my accountant
says it's crap and he only likes Sage. Sage have a particularly crap
website so it's not possible to find what I runs on, but I suspect it's
Windows only.
TBH I wouldn't use a spreadsheet, even though <cough> I actually do.
It's better to do accounting in a database."
    @graham: ""D.M. Procida" <email_address> wrote in 
message 
news:1i1axqf.m8t3op1qz7u8qN%<email_address>
<quote>
Quickbooks is ideal for a small business, but only runs under Windows using 
IE.
Very friendly, reasonably priced, a single data file for your company (as 
apposed to Sage, which seems to have a whole folder of files), can have 
several companies; multi-user version available.  Reasonable support amongst 
the accountancy profession, but worth choosing an accountant that knows how 
to use it.  There is a user group which is pushing to get them to produce a 
Linux version
 Graham"
    @innatesharp: "<quote>
<cough, cough> Until about three years ago I did mine in Word 4 or 5,
but then I changed to some version of Word where you couldn't add up a
column of numbers in a table even by switching to Word 5 menus. Or you
could, but only if there was a number in every box in the column - I
mean, how crap is that? So I switched to using the SS in AppleWorks.
Appleworks is really flakey and pretty slow. It's really bad that there
isn't a decent expenses app for PDAs (PalmOS) that syncs with Macs. I
don't need an accounts app just to do my income and expenses for my tax
return.
What's the deal with a database? Would I have to get FileMakerPro or
something? Would I then have to make a customised file or could I pay
someone �50 to do it for me?
MJHaslam
Remove accidentals to obtain correct e-address"
    @ian: "<quote>
Quickbooks runs under OS X too - my machine came with a trial of it.
<<url>
It's 
Quicken that doesn't - there's a US version but it's not easy to 
internationalise and apparently the file formats are slightly 
different*.
Cheers,
Ian
*which to my mind speaks volumes about the state of their codebase and 
in particular separation of logic and UI, but there you go."
    @steve: "<quote>
It's a better application for keeping track of payments and debits in a
standard format, and it matches the book keeping model of having ledgers
for each type of transaction a little better than a spreadsheet. Also as
your business grows then it can adapt with you.
Yes, it's FMP or something. I started with FMP, then moved to 4D and
then dithered with the DarkSide and Access. Nowadays I would use MySQL
and a local web front end.
You'd either have to DIY (you need to do this with a spreadsheet or with
an accounts package in any case) or pay someone a lot more than �50."
    @realnotantispamaddress: "<quote>
No, certainly not. All accounts packages run on a database of some sort,
including FMP, but you'd probably be best off using an off-the-shelf
package (which is what I am asking about).
Daniele"
    @sw: "<quote>
Yeah, I did the later OSX versions though someone else did the first port 
and I was stuck with the decisions that they made. Alas, DOSH have been 
bought out by MYOB, and Cashbook will wither on the vine (the Mac version at 
any rate: no Intel version, for example, will be be released) as I can't see 
MYOB spending money on a product that directly competes with theirs. So at 
this point in time, you should probably go with MYOB.
I assume that at some point they will provide a migration path for existing 
DOSH CB users.
Sak Wathanasin
Network Analysis Limited
<url>"
    @useneth: "On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:04:41 +0100, Steve Firth wrote
<quote>
I'm using MYOB, it's very accounting and quite useful, but it could do with 
improving on the UI front.
Yes, I had the same issue - it's a poor website and I had to call them to get 
confirmation that Sage doesn't have an OS X version.
I ran my organisation consultancy (very few, large I'm pleased to say, 
invoices out, and comparatively few lines of expense) for 10 years on 
AppleWorks; but I'm using MYOB for the Mac Doctor consultancy.
regards
hugh
hugh at clarity point uk point co
(by the sea) (using Hogwasher)
You never can truly tell when you have run out of invisible ink."
    @sarakirk: "<quote>
The other good thing about using Sage is that it's not just the 
accountants who like it, the VAT inspector and tax inspector we've had 
visits from in the last few years do too.
Sara
The teeth are free at last! Fly free, young teethies!"
    @timstreater: "<quote>
Do I get from this that Sage will run on a Mac or was just just wishful 
thinking on my part?"
    @pdnews: "<quote>
What a shame.
There's also Finance To Go, which is being actively developed and looks
like it might be quite good:
<<url>
Pd"
    @patchoulian: "<quote>
This seems to be a rather fundamental limitation:
Q. It is impossible to enter figures above 999,99. What do I do?
A. Unfortunately, this is a bug in the Mac OS X system software under 
control by Apple, Inc. We recognize this bug and are depending on Apple 
for a fix. It only occurs when using a numeric format which uses 
characters other than points or commas for seperators. The best 
workaround currently is to use another numeric format while using 
FinanceToGo."
    @pdnews: "<quote>
What numeric format do you need that needs something other than points
or commas for separators? 
Doesn't seem like a "fundamental" limitation to me, but then I don't use
groats and fillibuncorns.
Pd"
    @mail: "<quote>
There is a further fundmental fault with all these programmes from the
point of view of a sole trader running a small business: in DOSH all you
had to do was enter your earning, then your expenses, one click and it
did your VAT. Brilliant!  Nothing else is as simple or effective. But
simple software doesn't sell, I suppose. "
    @efl42: "<quote>
My vote goes for Business Accountz
<url>
or Personal Accountz
<url>
Has a very nice interface with a spreadsheet like entry fields. Much better
that MYOB which I thought was cr*p.
Converts QIF files (Quicken and Micro$oft Money) too.
Regards
Eddie
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Napoleon"
    @sarakirk: "<quote>
No, sorry, I run it on XP in Parallels.
Sara
The teeth are free at last! Fly free, young teethies!"
    @sw: "<quote>
It does do proper double-entry book-keeping, but it mostly hides it from the 
user. It was designed by an accountant who was fed up with the plastic bags 
full of till receipts and invoices that his SOHO clients would dump on him 
at year's end. He wanted something simple that his SOHO clients could learn 
to use fairly quickly.
The UI was deliberately kept simple and to mirror the workflow that a small 
trader would need. Unfortunately, this means that it doesn't score well in 
reviews against rivals with "feature-bloat". Never mind that most people 
would never use 75% of the features in other appls: it didn't tick many of 
the boxes and it looked bad.
Apart from that, its main failing was that it didn't scale well, so if your 
business took off, you'd have to switch to something else. But, hey, if that 
was the case, you could to afford to hire someone who knew how to use SAGE.
Sak Wathanasin
Network Analysis Limited
<url>"
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